Thousands turn out to rid coast of trash

Sept. 21, 2013

Updated 4:22 p.m.

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Santa Ana High students pick out trash from the marsh Saturday during the California and International Coastal Cleanup Day in the back bay near the Upper Newport Bay Nature Preserve. KEN STEINHARDT, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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A great egret finds a fish to snack on as volunteers pick up trash Saturday from the back bay near the Upper Newport Bay Nature Preserve during the California and International Coastal Cleanup Day. KEN STEINHARDT, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Orange County Parks ranger Portia Bryant watches as Wulfi Seraphin, 13, of Costa Mesa brings a load of driftwood in from the marsh Saturday during the California and International Coastal Cleanup Day in the back bay near the Upper Newport Bay Nature Preserve. KEN STEINHARDT, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Zeke Seraphin, 16, of Costa Mesa dumps a wheelbarrow load of driftwood he, his mom Eva and sister Wulfi collected in the marsh Saturday during the California and International Coastal Cleanup Day in the back bay near the Upper Newport Bay Nature Preserve. This is the Seraphin's 10th year volunteering at the cleanup. KEN STEINHARDT, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Volunteer Rich Ischinger of Newport Beach bags ice plant that had creeped into the Back Bay Saturday during the California and International Coastal Cleanup Day near the Upper Newport Bay Nature Preserve. Ice plant is not native to California and can choke out native marsh plants. KEN STEINHARDT, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Orange County Parks ranger reservist Andrew Ogden, 23, backs in a load of driftwood collected from the marsh Saturday during the California and International Coastal Cleanup Day in the back bay near the Upper Newport Bay Nature Preserve. KEN STEINHARDT, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Santa Ana High students pick out trash from the marsh Saturday during the California and International Coastal Cleanup Day in the back bay near the Upper Newport Bay Nature Preserve.KEN STEINHARDT, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

At a glance

Organizers were still tallying reports by deadline, but here are estimates with about 60 percent of totals in:

• In Orange County, 2,623 volunteers covered 95 miles to pick up trash at beaches, trails and waterways. A total 100,131 pounds of trash was picked up, of which 3,347 pounds were recyclables, said Matthew Le of Orange County Community Resources. Items included a decades-old head of a snapping turtle in San Juan Capistrano, as well as a 1950s-era Coke bottle at Crystal Cove State Park.

• Eben Swartz, spokesman for the California Coastal Commission, said early estimates show there were about 37,296 volunteers statewide who picked up 312,648 pounds of trash, of which 28,000 pounds were recyclables.

NEWPORT BEACH – Mark Powell scoured the muddy marsh at the Newport Beach Back Bay until he spotted something that didn’t belong.

The Fullerton resident picked up a plastic cup and popped it into his daughter Sarah’s trash bag, which read: “Every piece of trash you remove reveals something beautiful.”

“Repulsed,” is how he described feeling about all the trash they had found in the estuary, a habitat home to endangered animals and wildlife. “You just don’t expect to see a bunch of trash floating in a place as beautiful as this.”

The pair was among about 750 people who showed up at the Peter and Mary Muth Interpretive Center in Newport Beach on Saturday to participate in California and International Coastal Cleanup Day, an annual event that brings volunteers to the beaches, waterways and trails to pick up trash.

In Orange County, early estimates showed more than 2,500 people joined the effort, and the California Coastal Commission said more than 37,000 volunteers helped with more than 300,000 pounds of trash. Around the world, the Ocean Conservancy estimated about half a million people as far as Hong Kong help to rid litter from coastlines.

Sue Stoffell, operations manager for OC Parks, said her favorite part of this year’s cleanup was how many kids were pitching in to do their part.

“They are our future stewards; they are the ones we want to get really enthused about the natural world,” Stoffell said. “With Orange County becoming so urbanized, we don’t have as many natural spaces any more. So these are the guys who are going to be running the parks when I retire.”

She pointed to 4-year-old Sam Smith-Scalero, who had just put his small hands into plastic gloves to start his clean up.

“That's the heartwarming part for me,” Stoffell said. “Them learning about the effects of trash in the environment, on the wildlife and the habitats and recycling and as they get older, they'll become better stewards even at home. It doesn't matter if you live 20 minutes away, it still affects the health of the estuary. Everything comes down and into the watershed.”

At the Interpretive Center, displays showing how the trash reaches the ocean from inland were set up in a learning station.

It’s the second year Smith-Scalero’s moms, Jeanine Scalero and Nina Smith, brought him to the cleanup. They frequently use the Back Bay and “it’s just our way of giving back and to show him we have to take care of the environment.”

The Powells came for Sarah’s environmental science class at Sunny Hills High School in Fullerton. But even at 54-years-old, Mark Powell said it was educational for him to learn about the environment. He was amazed at all the tennis balls he found.

“We don’t even use the Bay that much, but it's a learning experience for me,” he said. “I used to come down here as a kid. It's good to give back.”

Newport resident Rick Ischinger said among the trash he found in the Back Bay were two and a half pairs of shoes, four empty medical marijuana canisters and a lot of broken beer bottles. His eight-pound bag was so heavy, “it was ripping when I got back,” he said.

The trash found in the ocean often comes from upstream, so people living inland also need to be aware of debris flowing down waterways toward the ocean, said Nicolas Mallos, conservation biologist for the Ocean Conservancy.

“At the end of the day, we have to remember that the ocean is always downstream. It may not reach the ocean today or tomorrow, but we know water flows downstream,” he said. “We need to think about the items we are using not just on beaches, but also inland and communities far upstream as well.”

The debris can cause dire affects. One major concern is that marine animals will swallow the plastics and trash, giving them a false sense of being full. The animals then don’t seek out food and die from starvation, Mallos said.

Another concern is chemical effects. Mallos said that toxins from plastics and trash are ingested by smaller animals and as those animals are consumed, the toxins move up the food chain

Mallos was at a clean up in Alexandria, Va., on Saturday, where up to 200 people came together to pick up trash. He said there were the usual items found, like plastic bottles and “an exorbitant amount” of cigaret butts. There were also interesting items like a couch cushion and a switchblade found, he said.

Mallos said half a million people around the world gathered for International Cleanup Day – organized by the Ocean Conservancy – and it’s a start to helping the problem. But more can be done. People can do that by rethinking their routine, and doing things like buying re-usable bottles and bags.

“The cleanup is a Band-Aid, not a cure,” he said. “We need to reduce number of items in the ocean in the first place.”

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